Al-Zubayr (1) said: The Shiʿah of Ibn al-Hanafiyyah maintained that he had not died.
Concerning him al-Sayyid al-Himyari recited:
Go, tell the legatee—may my life be your ransom—
Your stay upon that mountain has grown too long.
You have wearied a band of your devoted followers (2)
Who proclaimed you the Caliph and the Imam.
For your sake they opposed all the people of the earth;
Your withdrawal from them has lasted sixty years. (3)
The son of Khawlah has never tasted death,
Nor has any land hidden away his bones.
Even now, in the verdant gorge of Radwa,
The angels return to converse with him.
There he enjoys a true place of repose,
And noble gatherings keep him company.
May Allah guide us—since you have embarked on a cause (4)
By which and through which we seek perfection:
Perfect loyalty to the Mahdi, until
You behold our banners advancing in ordered array.
Al-Sayyid al-Himyari also said:
O valley of Radwa, what ails the one within you that he is unseen,
While our longing for him only grows more keen?
How long—how much longer—what span still remains?
O son of the legatee, while you live and are sustained. (5)
He leaned toward Shi‘ism, yet Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Yahya ibn Ma‘in judged him trustworthy. When the caliph Hisham ibn ‘Abd al-Malik’s letter reached Medina reviling ‘Ali, he declared: “May Allah curse anyone who insults ‘Ali or Husayn, whether he be a commoner or a leader.” For his biography, see Ibn Sa‘d, al-Tabaqat, 5/485; al-Marzubani, Mu‘jam al-Shu‘ara’, 239; Ibn al-Fihri, al-‘Iqd al-Thamin, 7/91; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, 8/426; and Ibn ‘Abd al-Hadi, Khulasat Tadhhib al-Kamal, 320.
(1) See Nasab Quraysh, p. 42; Abu’l-Faraj al-Isfahani, al-Aghani, 9/14; al-Dhahabi, Tarikh al-Islam, 3/295; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa’l-Nihaya, 9/39; and Ibn Qutayba, ‘Uyun al-Akhbar, 2/144, which cites the first five lines.
(2) The base manuscript reads wa-abuka ("and your father"), an obvious slip; Nasab Quraysh and al-Aghani supply the correct wording.
(3) This is the reading of the manuscript and al-Aghani; Nasab Quraysh has ‘ishrin ("twenty").
(4) Nasab Quraysh and al-Aghani read jartum, spelled with the dotted jim.
(5) The two verses also occur in al-Mas‘udi, Muruj al-Dhahab, 2/102; Ibn ‘Asakir, Tarikh Dimashq, 15/365; and al-Dhahabi, Tarikh al-Islam, 3/295; the second line alone is found in Ibn al-Mu‘tazz, Tabaqat al-Shu‘ara’, p. 33.